We interviewed some of our friendly (yes, they can be friendly sometimes!) journalists at the BBC, Digital Trends and Pocket-lint to get a global perspective from them on how brands and their products can steal the media spotlight at CES.

1.) Everyone likes shortcuts.

Make the journalists life easier – accommodate their schedule, set up their transportation, provide them with some R&R towards the end of the show, etc. This will set you apart from the other thousand PR pros vying for the media’s time to go to them.

2.) Last minute is their middle name…

Realize that media won’t make decisions until the day of, even if you started pitching in July. That being said, if you’re actually pitching at CES, pitch early or late, not during the day. Face-to-face is best, Twitter is second and don’t even think about LinkedIn. Lastly, know the product you’re pitching. If you can’t answer the what, how, why and when then you shouldn’t have opened your mouth to begin with. According to Pocket-lint, not being able to do that in less than 20 seconds is the cardinal sin.

3.) Don’t talk like a millennial.

Kill the use of buzzwords – not every product is revolutionary, game-changing or a world first. Still think your product is “ground-breaking”? Stop drinking the Kool-Aid, mate. We think that the BBC journalist was joking when he said he had an automatic filter on his email for any of these words to send them straight to his recycle bin, but it’s not worth taking that chance, right?

4.) Stay in your lane.

You’re a startup trying to take on Google? Great. So are 1,000 other brands. Set yourself apart from them before you start name dropping the big guys. As we’ve explained above, don’t use buzzwords, but media are looking for exciting companies and products that are going to change the world, or at least bring new categories to consumer electronics. Pitching them on what’s unique and giving them hands-on time with the product and its creators to ask questions is playing your cards right as a small company. For Digital Trends, that hands-on time is one of the biggest reasons to actually travel to Vegas.

5.) Know who’s who.

There’s a lot to keep up with at CES, but try to stay as sharp as possible. It’s tough to drag the right people into your booth, so it’s worth checking out a media showcase event like CES Unveiled, Pepcom or Showstoppers. But, 1000s of press attend those events, so make sure you’re prepped. Pitch your target press beforehand and keep a mental note of the journalists that you want to be in front of. Grabbing them as they go past can be very effective – last year, we secured a 20-minute national broadcast interview for one of our clients doing just that.

6.) And one last tip...

Booze is practically free in Vegas, a free cocktail isn’t going to entice a journalist – keep it on the floor and don’t take them away from the strip.